When we walked into the Cottage Inn in Red Creek on a recent Saturday night, co-owner Joanne Venette asked if we were in town for the Renaissance Festival, about 20 minutes away in Sterling. After 22 years in business, Venette knows most of the people who come through the Cottage Inn's doors. We were the rare customers she didn't recognize.

That didn't stop her from welcoming us with open arms, ushering us into a bustling dining room where tables were packed with people and mountains of food. Quaint and cozy, the Cottage Inn certainly has a down-home feel, but the food is more ambitious than just comfort cooking. Venette's husband, Doug, studied at the Culinary Institute of America, and he offers a menu of seafood, steaks, chicken, veal and pork along with a wine list that has about 30 modestly priced offerings. Two $24 bottles are the priciest; there are five $16 options. We started with a nice $4.25 glass of Frontera cabernet from Chile that was dry and fruity.

At our waitress's recommendation, we ordered the regular (16-ounce) prime rib ($23.99). For a chicken dish, she suggested the chicken French (chicken dipped in egg batter, served with white wine and lemon sauce), but we were more intrigued by the chicken Amaretto ($15.99), which featured chicken breaded with almond bread crumbs and sauteed in Amaretto liquor.

The salad bar was included with our meals, but we figured we'd try some appetizers and ordered a mixed combo platter for $10.99. As it turned out, that was unnecessary, and you can easily cut costs by skipping a starter. You're welcome to visit the salad bar more than once, and you can also help yourself to soup. The salad bar featured crisp lettuce along with broccoli, cucumbers, mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese, dressings and more, with the only disappointment being the imitation bacon bits. The soup of the day was sausage and potato, and a soothing, warm broth held generous, half dollar-sized chunks of spicy sausage and potatoes that were just firm enough.

The waitress accidentally brought mozzarella sticks instead of potato skins with our sampler. When we pointed it out, she dashed into the kitchen and right back out, telling us to keep the mozzarella sticks and the potato skins would be out soon. The mozzarella sticks and onion rings both offered a solid crunch and weren't overly greasy. There was more mozzarella in the pizza logs, which also had pepperoni tucked into a deep fried wrapper. They were too doughy; we unwrapped them to get a better taste of the pepperoni and cheese.

The potato skins, on the other hand, were close to perfection. Each one had a full slice of bacon folded on top of it. Some skins have almost no potato inside, but these still had a fair amount of creamy flesh, which was topped with gooey cheese and the rich, salty bacon.

We marveled at the prime rib when it arrived. It dwarfed the baked potato and a comical wedge of watermelon. At least an inch thick, it was served au jus, swimming in a pool of dark brown juice. Prime rib is one of those hit-or-miss dishes; you can sometimes end up with as much gristle as meat. As mammoth as ours was, there was far more tender, flavorful meat than fat.

The waitress warned us that our chicken dish was even bigger, and indeed, two pieces of chicken swallowed the plate, which also held a sea of Amaretto sauce, some almonds and a piece of watermelon. Our ranch mashed potatoes, another tasty take on potatoes, had to be served on the side.

We were impressed with how juicy and moist the chicken was given how thinly it was pounded. We liked the Amaretto sauce, but there was far too much of it, making the dish seem almost candied and leading us to have second thoughts about ordering dessert. We had to take more than half of it home, prompting our waitress to tell us she finds it too sweet.

Grasshopper pie ($4.50), one of about a half-dozen desserts made on site (another half-dozen or so are brought in) was a cool antidote, with the refreshing taste of mint mingling with a cookie crust. A homemade chocolate ice cream torte ($5.50) appeared to have some freezer burn, but the chocolate and butter pecan ice creams still tasted good, with a luscious caramel and chocolate sauce on top.

As we were leaving, Joanne Venette was sitting near the exit, and she happily chatted with us about how she and her husband bought the Cottage Inn in her hometown two decades ago. In a previous incarnation, the restaurant had a gourmet menu, she said, and fans sometimes balked at the changes the Venettes introduced. Given the crowd that we encountered -- the line at the salad bar was sometimes 10 people deep -- it looks like diners have come around.

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